ALBATROSS - ALBATROSSES |
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ALBATROSS - ALBATROSSES STORIES, LEGENDS, FOLKLORE and INFORMATION Scroll down or click on your choice below • Books about the Albatross - Albatrosses - All ages • Online Links to stories/info - Albatross - Albatrosses • SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info-Albatross-Albatrosses ~~Advice/References - Storytellers, Teachers, Librarians |
BOOKS ABOUT THE ALBATROSS - ALBATROSSES - ALL AGES
Book titles are in blue and underlined. Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
To retell these stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always credit your sources.
Alphabetized for your convenience with short descriptions to save you research time.
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Albatross: Their World, Their Ways by Tui De Roy, mark Jones and Julian Fritter. (2008)Albatross are best known for their enormous wingspan and global migrations. They are also the subject of intense scientific scrutiny. Recent DNA studies have revealed that there may not be just 13, but 21 to 25 albatross species. With all but two of them endangered, the albatross may disappear just as we are discovering more about it. |
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Albatross to Zebra Finch: Birds from A to Z (Let's Look a to Z) by Mary Elizabeth Salzmann. ((2008 - Ages 9-12)From a series of non-fiction A to Z books, this title is suitable for sharing or reading alone. The text is spare, yet interesting and informative. The coloured photo illustrations of birds, both wild & tame are beautiful. In addition each page has a fascinating fact about the featured bird. |
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Albatrosses by W.L.N. Tickell. (2000)This authoritative volume is the first comparative account of the albatross family, famed for their supreme adaptations to the marine environment, for breeding on remote islands, and for spending most of their lives flying immense distances over the sea. The book includes maps, tables, diagrams, and color photographs to accompany full descriptions of the various forms of albatrosses and their distribution, behavior, and ecology. |
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Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World (Princeton Field Guides) by Derek Onley and Paul Scofield. (2007)The first comprehensive field guide to the world's 136 species of albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters, storm petrels, and diving petrels. Because many of these birds spend most of their lives far from the coast, traveling from ocean to ocean in a constant search for food, they are poorly known, enigmatic, and often hard to identify in the field. This guide will make field identification much easier. It illustrates every species and shows distinct plumages. |
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Albert the Albatross (I Can Read Book 1) by Syd Hoff. (1961 - Ages 4-8)Albert finds his way home to the ocean with the help of a lady tourist—and her hat.‘Many economical words are briskly exchanged before the happy ending.’ —Saturday Review. |
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Cousteau: Albatross (Cousteau)
by Cousteau Society. (1993 - Ages 4-8) Stunning, close-up action photographs depict the majestic and legendary albatross as it flies for months at a time until it is reunited with its mate. |
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Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival
by Carl Safina. (2003) This book takes us soaring to locales where whales, sea turtles, penguins, and shearwaters flourish in their own quotidian rhythms. Carl Safina’s guide and inspiration is an albatross he calls Amelia, whose life and far-flung flights he describes in fascinating detail. Interwoven with recollections of whalers and famous explorers, the book probes the unmistakable environmental impact of the encounters between man and marine life. |
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Fables from the Garden (Kolowalu Book) |
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Little Albatross by Michael Morpurgo with Michae Foreman (illus). (2006 - Ages 4-8)Little Albatross sleeps, snug in the warmth of his mother's feathers. Day by day, he grows bigger and stronger. Until the day when Mother and Father Albatross decide he is old enough to be left on his own—just for a little while… Michael Morpurgo— 2003–2005 Children’s Laureate—has won numerous awards, including the Smarties Prize, the Whitbread Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children’s Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. |
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Penguin Child (The) and the Albatross Child
by Alice Schick with Joel Schick (illus). (2008 - Ages 9-12) Albatrosses and Penguins nest side-by-side on South Georgia Island. When a pair of penguins and a pair of albatrosses mix up their eggs, the results are both hilarious and heartwarming. |
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Toroa: The Royal Albatross
by Te Aorere Riddell. (2003) With a wingspan of three meters, the Toroa, or Royal Albatross, can fly up to 115 km an hour. The Toroa lives for over 60 years, and spends 87% of its long life at sea. Meet this amazing bird – an important part of New Zealand’s heritage – and discover how we can conserve it as a legacy for the future. |
ONLINE LINKS TO STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ALBATROSS - ALBATROSSES
Online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
To retell any of the stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Short descriptions included for your convenience and to save you research time.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/904317.stm
"Where the Albatross Wanders," an article by BBC news. Facts about the albatross.
• http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/albatrosswandering.html
" Toroa, the Albatross" - informational site with picture
• http://abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/July2001/default.htm
"Feast of the Albatross," an article from Scribbly Gum.
• http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2009&context=ucmercedlibrary/jcgba
Prehistoric Exploitation of Albatross on the Southern California Channel Islands by Judith F. Porcasi.
• http://www.4to40.com/encyclopedia/index.asp?id=12
Albatross: common name for large web-footed marine birds...thorough study of this bird.
• http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/Rime.html
Summary of the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
• http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/16605.html
Essay about the Albtross.
• http://www.allsands.com/science/animals/albatrossbird_wgn_gn.htm
The Albatross Bird. Superstitions and historice folklore surrounding these seabirds....
• http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/albatross.html
Albatross Profile and Facts from National Geographic.
SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ALBATROSS - ALBATROSSES
Advice, Discussion and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any of the stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Short descriptions included for your convenience and to save you research time.
Posts are listed chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.
1) Query: I know that the albatross is thought to house the souls of drowned sailors - but can anyone give me the bones of a folktale or legend about this?
Jill L.
Responses:
a) The first thing that came to mind was the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
http://eserver.org/poetry/ancient-mariner.html
Here is some quick info with some possible lead to African and Dutch folklore and myths. It might be a place to start. Good luck! Pearl tells people tales of both John Henry and John de Conquer, how the latter came from Africa as an albatross and lived on plantations with the name of John, and tricked the masters into freeing slaves. Both folk heroes appear in many African American tales by Virginia Hamilton.
http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/bibs/folkficthamilton.htm
Albatross: Wide Area Cluster Computing
http://www.cs.vu.nl/albatross/
An Albatross is a cool, black-and-white, wide-area bird. The project is about wide-area programming. Many other projects in our research group have names of black-and-white animals (Orca, Panda, Das, Hawk, Magpie, Manta). Also, Albatrosses are featured in some ancient Dutch legends and myths. The magnificent birds, with a wing span of up to 2 meters (about 7 feet) for long inspired awe among sailors, who ascribed special powers to them, and killing an Albatross would bring bad luck. (In other stories albatrosses play a less glamorous though more humorous part).
Karen C.
2) An audiotape: "Tears of the Albatross" ~ "Tama's Putorino" - "Tawai Te Rangi" - "Maori origins"
The Tape
Listening to a story is very different from simply reading it or looking at a picture book. While listening, we form our own pictures and feel the warm presence of the storyteller. Our storyteller - the kuia , the great-grandmother - is a special person with something precious to give.
These two stories have a depth and beauty about them, connecting children to the lasting qualities in the Maori cultural tradition. Hearing the wonderful, rich, grandmotherly voice also rekindles our respect for the depth of wisdom the elderly have to offer the young. In Maoridom, different tribes will appreciate the openness of the stories, allowing them to honour local customs when following up the stories.
A focused selection of songs accompany the stories. Lyrics in the book are easily learned and the music is pitched for children's voices. These simple songs also cover the virtues in the stories: loyalty, service, creativity and respect.
The Book
We have created an exciting, timely, new-format book to accompany this cassette - the Wisdom Book. In tune with an emerging trend, the Wisdom Book passes on traditional cultural wisdom and introduces children to the spiritual dimension of life in a non-religious way.
The Stories
"Nga Roimata Toroa" - "Tears of the Albatross" - is a traditional Maori story about two albatrosses who care for a tohunga (wise man). An old rascal has evil plans for the birds, but our heroes, the twins, ensure a happy ending. Nga Roimata Toroa is also a well-loved tukutuku panel design. The crafting of these traditional wall panels is described in fascinating detail in the accompanying Wisdom Book, together with fun scientific facts about the albatross, courtesy of the royal albatross colony in Dunedin. Aunty Tawai also passes down spiritual teachings about the virtues of loyalty and service.
"Te Putorino a Tama" - "Tama's Putorino" - is a delightful new story about a young boy's creativity in solving the problem of what to do about the ants who make their home in his putorino (flute). As Tama and his parents journey into the bush to retrieve the flute, native birds unobtrusively take us through the protocol of visiting a marae. This traditional protocol is described in detail in the accompanying Wisdom Book, together with facts about ants and spiritual teachings about the virtues of creativity and respect.
Side One (English)
1. Tears of the Albatross
(Includes songs Albatross, Loyalty and Service).
2. Tama's Putorino
3. Song of the Ants
4. Song of Respect
5. Sounds of Nature
Side Two (Maori)
1. Nga Roimata Toroa
(me nga waiata: Rere Runga, Pumau Tonu e, me Mahi Pono mo Katoa).
2. Mea he Toroa
3. Te Putorino a Tama
4. Waihanga Hanga Tanga
5. Whaka-ute
Available for sale at:
http://www.thesacredsite.com/children.htm
3) " Toroa, the Albatross" - informational site with picture
Excerpt:
"The sailing ships used to encounter albatrosses while plying the westerly winds between latitudes 40 and 60 degrees, thus the Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties came to be known as the albatross latitudes. At times they were hooked on fishing lines or shot with a cross bow or guns. One of James Cook's expeditions records the capture of albatrosses which ended up on the table. Ashore sealers and whalers evidently took eggs and even the birds themselves for food. The use of the skins for feather rugs may have produced an early nickname "cape sheep". Their webbed feet were converted into tobacco pouches, their bones into pipe stems, breast feathers into muffs and their beaks into paper clips.
The flesh was considered a great delicacy to Maori who preserved it the same way as mutton birds. From the bones they carved spear tips, nose flutes and other artifacts. The secretions from the birds tubular nostrils were the "tears" of the albatross, weeping for its distant home, a motif often used in carving."
More at:
http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/albatrosswandering.html
4) "Resurrection in the Wind" by Rick Steiner.
Nearly wiped out by feather harvesters, the short-tailed albatross is now poised for what may be the bird comeback of all time.
Excerpt:
"On a somber day in November, 1987, ornithologist Hiroshi Hasegawa gazed out from Torishima Island into the deep blue waters of the subtropical Pacific. Years before, this tiny oceanic volcano 600 kilometers (370 mi.) south of Tokyo had been the primary nesting site for the short-tailed albatrosses that then numbered in the millions. Giants in the seabird world, they had converged here each winter through the ages..."
More at National Wildlife Federation
http://www.nwf.org/internationalwildlife/1998/albatros.html
5) "Indiscrete Thoughts," an essay by Gian-Carlo Rota
Excerpt:
"Myths come in two kinds: working myths and wilting myths. Working myths are the bedrock of civilization, they are what college students in the sixties used to call "ultimate reality." We could not function without the solid support that we get from our working myths. We are not aware of our working myths.
Sooner or later, every working myth begins to wilt. We can tell that a myth is wilting as soon as we are able to express it in words. It then turns into a belief, to be preserved and defended.
A wilting myth is an albatross hanging from our necks. Only on rare occasions do we summon the courage to discard a wilting myth; more often, we hang on to a wilting myth to the very end. If anyone dares question any of our wilting myths, we will lash out and label him elitist," "subversive," "reactionary," "irrational," "cynical...... nihilistic," obscurantist." We will seize on some incorrect but irrelevant detail as an excuse to dismiss an entire argument. Most discussions, whether in science, in philosophy, in politics or in everyday conversation, are thinly veiled attacks or defenses of some wilting myth.
Eventually, a wilting myth gets dropped by all but the hard-liners..."
More at:
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/books/indiscrete/intro.shtml
6) "The Great Albatross" - a Creation story
Excerpt:
Once, long ago when the skies crackled the lightning and the seas rolled with waves as tall as mountains, the world we know was born.
The night sky twinkled with 10,000,000 stars, and the day sky was alive with the brilliance of a close star, the Sun. Sunbeams reflected in clouds that shone like polished mirrors. The Earth was covered with a beautiful blanket of swirling water, lovely but fierce.
In all this beauty, nothing moved, save the sky and sea. There were no fishes, no whales, and no dolphins in the waters. There was no land, and so no humans or tiger or lizards or bugs. And in the sky, no butterflies, no bees, and no birds, save one.
The only creature who existed was Atoya, the Great Albatross. She who would birth and mother the world we know. Her great body was longer than a football field and her mighty wings spread wide as a city. She was born of lightning and seafoam on brilliant day long, long ago. It was when the lightning struck the sea and raised foam high into the air. The foam vibrated with the energy of the Universe and as it dropped back toward the sea, it took form and became a gigantic glistening Albatross....
The rest of the story is at:
http://www.spiralgoddess.com/CreationStory.html
Created 2005; last update 6/18/09
Story Lovers World ... 707-996-1996 |
by Leslie Ann Hayashi, Kathleen Wong Bishop (1998 - Ages 4-8)